[quote="llpaz"]Hi Walker,
Sorry I did not mean to offend you. I am giving accurate information and I am not an administrator. I was not asked about my religious views in my interview with Jim Gilson. I am sure they would prefer to hire Christians but they can not be picky anymore because of the market. No one has to lie. We were going to work for Concordia In Shanghai and they asked this question and yet this school has an excellent reputation. There is no religious education at QSI schools. They just want teachers as good role models thats why they have the non smoking rule. I know people in Shekou, and they do not share housing this is a fact. Please write the teachers in Shekou, I know the Director of instruction there and they can tell you the real facts. We have 2 single friends transferring all getting their own apartments. I know who you are overhere and we helped you to get your job in Bratislava. You seemed more then excited to be going there and now I read all your posts. Was it that bad with Matthew Lake? I do not remember you being concerned about the religious question before you interviewed in Iowa. I remember sitting with you and talking about the interview. So what if they asked you your religion? I am sure they would have hired you if you answered yes or no if you are good teachers. All I can say is Kiev is a good school, Bratislava was a good school. I have family and friends at Almaty, Baku and 2 schools in China that I can speak of honestly. Are there better schools? I am sure there are. But all in all it is everyone's opinion. We have many happy teachers here and highly certified administrators. Maybe in the smaller schools this is different. Share where you worked in China so we know! I have not run into any teacher that does not have a college degree in QSI. The reason for the 3 year step on the scale is because some countries such as Holland have 3 years of college instead of 4.
In Kuwait a friend of mine was promoted to Asst. Principal with no qualifications, not even a degree in admin so this is a concern woldwide not just in QSI schools. All of the admin I have been in contact with all have degress in Administration.
So maybe some of these issues pertain to specific schools. I am tired of QSI getting this religious reputation when they do not even teach religious instruction and no one I know even goes to church. We are catholic and do not hide this but do not flaunt it either. THE FACTS-QSI hires Christians and non christians. They are looking for people with good morals thats it. FACT - Singles get their own housing. Two singles at our school share because they wanted to live together, they are both older single ladies and made that choice. I am being fair and honest in my post. I think my information is accurate and true and comes from working with the organization for 6 years.

reply

I have found non certified teachers in all my overseas experience in and out of QSI. My son's teacher is certified in High School but teaches Middle School to my son and he is ok. I would prefer a certified teacher but it is not always going to happen unless I move back home. Even in the big schools such as Shanghai American and Lima Peru they have teachers that are teaching out of their certified area. Our friends just got hired at one on these schools and he will be teaching out of his certified area. The school claims to hire only certified teachers and it does but then they have you teach out of your certified area??? Makes no sense to me. It happens at almost all schools. Our admin here in Kiev is certified with many years of experience. If anyone wants info on QSI or Kiev you may write to me personally.

Are you sure you are not a runner rather then a Walker? What schools have you worked at to have all these bad comments on QSI. We have many single hired teachers that have full benefits and have been here for 8 years and more. I have worked for 2 QSI schools and have friends and family in 4 other schools that would not agree. I am just wondering where you are working so I can avoid that place when I transfer. I only have positive things to note about QSI here in Kiev. I also worked in Bratislava for 4 years. They have changed policy in the past ten years and are hiring more and more singles with benefits. I have no problem with the curriculum or assessment. I worked in Kuwait and there were some serious problems there. So I guess it is all opinions. But after 6 Years of QSI and 17 years of teaching I would highly recommend this organization to anyone.
That church comment is not even fair. Most teachers I work with do not attend church and we were never asked this question at any interview.

Hi There,
I work at QSI and have for 5 years now and I have never heard of singles having to share housing. All our new singles coming into Kiev this year will have their own apartments. Singles in other QSI schools that I know of do not share housing either. Hope this helps.

Hello,
The vacancies are all due to growth in the schools especially in China, that school keeps growing very fast.

Hi,
It is Lori writing on the forum not Lou. Although Lou is really happy with our school here in Kiev. We did work for QSI previously so we knew what to expect.
Hope you are enjoying your school year.
Lori

Hi,
I do not have the salary scale for the 2008-2009 school year but I know what step 2 pays......for next year it would be 26,000 plus a 2,000 bonus at the end of the year and a cola of 1600. If you add that up it equals more then your Kuwait salary and thats only with 2 years of experience. Step 6 should be 29,200 plus the 2,000 bonus which would equal 31200 plus cola. Also you get airfare every year, nicely furnished housing,( we have had to buy a shelf only) an interest free car loan, and excellent medical insurance and free tuition for all 3 of our children. This is the best medical coverage we have had so far in any country including the USA where we had to pay 300 a month for family coverage. I had a scare this summer with a breast lump and everything was covered and I received top care in the USA with QSI medical insurance.
I would be happy to answer any other questions that I can....

I woudl like to respond to a few of the negative comments below. Where did you work within QSI. I have worked at 2 schools and have never heard of any of these issues and we have been with the company 10 years.
I know everyone has their own opinion but people need to know this school you were at because it is not the norm for QSI. I have friends in Almaty, Baku, Bratislava, Yemen, China and none of them would agree with most of your points.

I will respond to a few points below...
Lack of Supplies...................I have so many supplies in my classroom that I have no where to store them. They ordered thousands of dollars in toys, games, puzzles, learning cetners and they spent an additional 45,000 on the new guided reading books. So I can say there is no lack of supplies. When I worked at AIS there were very little supplies and no curriculum.

We have a small ESL population. We are 25% american, 25% Ukrainian, and the rest are a mix of all nationalities. Of my 14 kids in my class 3 are ESL. In Bratislava the same was true.

Inadequate Facitlities - We have a brand new 70.000 playground, a swimming pool that is indoor, 2 cafeterias, a soccer field and large areas for the kids to play. Sure the building is older but we are in the Ukraine. This place looks like a mansion comared to the facilities my kids had to attend at AIS last year.

If anyone else has had a good experience with QSI please post. They are a great organization and is trying very hard to be the best. We are getting a large raise next year. I am saving more then half my salary here and I have three kids so the pay is not low at all. With the raise next year my husband and I will be taking in almost 7,000 a month.

As far as textbook driven, All I can say is it is not a PYP school. yes there are textbooks and good teachers know how to teach and not just use the textbook. I see a variety of teaching styles at our school and honestly can say that I have not seen any textbook driven teachers.

They are only having one fair in Kuwait . This is the 2nd fair held in Kuwait. The first one was last December.

We also have many teachers here that have spouses that work as assistants in the building. We have friends in another country and his spouse works in the business office. So there is opportunity for employment for non teaching spouses. Generally they have no problems finding teaching couples. There is only room for 10 - 12 interviews because they will be at the New Park Hotel for only 2 days and each interview is 90 minutes long. It is worth applying just to talk to them and see if is good fit. They are paying 300 dollars to each person who signs a contract. So thats 600 a couple. Last year a couple flew in from Saudi and this would have been great to offset the cost. But if you in Kuwait you still receive the stipend.

Hello,
It is true the organization still has some openings but mainly due to unexpected growth and thats all. At our school we have numerous singles working with full benefits. Some have been here for 5-9 years. Yes they prefer married teaching couples because of the housing situation. They are interviewing singles this year for math, science and administration jobs. I have worked for several international schoools and QSI has been the best. They are increasing the pay next year to become more competetive. I have 14 kids in my class, a nice house, a car and we are saving half our salary. If anyone wants more specifc info please write me personally at llpaz12@yahoo.com

Hi,
As a previous teacher at AIS I wanted to let teachers in Kuwait know that QSI is holding it's second job fair in Kuwait in less then 3 weeks. If you want any information about QSI please feel free to write us. This is our 5th year working for this organization and we love it. I know there are alot of teachers in Kuwait that may be recuiting and I did not want anyone to lose the opportunity to work for such a great organization.
Just go to www.qsi.org and apply. There is only room for 10 or 12 interviews so apply online soon if you are interested.